Heat Haze Mafia
by Pokepika's Haunt
Summary: Tsumiko Sawada is in for a shock when her twin brother finally returns from Italy after nines years of being away. But he brings along some unexpected guests and with them, a whole lot of problems she wasn't prepared to deal with. Rated T for safety; More inside-
1. Chapter 1

A/N. My third Fem!Tsuna fanfic, hope you guys enjoy it and thanks for reading. I'm kinda testing out a new personality type, so if Fem!Tsuna seems all kinda levels of OOC, that is why. I kinda based her personality off of one of my favorite characters from this new manga that I've taken a liking to for quite a while now, being Kagerou Days. This is probably going to be updated when I'm not working on a new chapter for Project Eve and at the same time waiting for weirn-chan to send me a new chapter for A Change of Fate.

Summary: _"The world is only unlimited because we give up before we can list all of the possibilities we can think of."_

Tsumiko Sawada is a young, reclusive NEET that hasn't set foot in the outside world for nearly three years now. But what happens when her older twin brother suddenly returns from Italy after nearly nine years of being away, and with a strange and violent hitman in tow? Her once peaceful and secluded life gets thrown into disarray as she soon discovers just what her brother has been up to these past few years, and somehow manages to get herself involved. Can she face her own demons in order to help her brother with his, or will they both crash and burn?

**WARNING!**

**WARNING!**

**Reclusive Fem!Tsuna!Fanfic ahead, Adult!Arcobaleno.**

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**Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING!**

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_She closes her eyes and dreams of hot summer days, and a day she wishes would never end…_

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**Target 0: Strangers Calling?**

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"_Hello world. My name is unimportant, but I have a question to ask you. If I told you that the world was going to end in three days, what would you do?" _Honey brown eyes blinked as the question flashed across the screen, having zoned out for all of maybe just a few minutes before she finally realized what she had been doing. It was strange really, the impulses she felt so free to follow through with nowadays. She hadn't set foot in the outside world in nearly three years, give or take a few months or days here and there, and in the quiet that seemed to always be present in her bedroom, only broken by the insistent and near constant tapping created by computer keys being pressed rapidly one after another, she had found a lot more time to just sit down and think than she had originally thought she would. It wasn't as if it would matter after all, the world would continue to move without her, never truly stopping or slowing down for even just a few seconds. It didn't need her in it, so if she so wished to remove herself from the equation that was life, then so be it. The only people who might notice or care would be her family, or rather her mother, but with how little she communicated with said woman, she doubted that it would affect her all that much either.

She faintly remember having a conversation with someone else online that along those same lines. If she remembered correctly, that person had told her she was undervaluing her life or something like that. Maybe she was.

Maybe she wasn't.

She would never be entirely sure.

"Tsu-chan…" She found her eyes turning to face the speaker as the tentative voice cut through her thoughts, her face probably glowing from the flashing lights provided by the screen of her laptop. There was a woman standing in the doorway looking very close to being a nervous wreck. She seemed fragile and open and friendly and scared all at the same time. Clinging to some miniscule hope that the world would turn out okay even though she knew it would not. She almost didn't recognize the once so cheerful and hospitable woman, her own mother who had once jumped at the chance to have guests over to cook for, always so lonely simply because all she had was her daughter, and not also the elder son and husband she so wished would visit more often from whatever place in the world they were. The world that her daughter had, without warning, refused to be a part of so suddenly it almost gave her a heart attack. "Tsu-chan… Um… etto… Mama was just wondering if maybe Tsu-chan would like to come downstairs and talk with Papa, he said he wanted to speak with you." The fourteen year old couldn't help but note the slight rise in the woman's voice as she looked at her with some sort of hope that she would agree.

Honestly, she didn't want to have anything to do with the man that was supposed to be her father, and she knew for a fact that her mother knew that as well, but it seemed that she was grasping at straws so to speak, almost desperate for her to socialize with someone other than her computer.

The laptop closed with a resounding click as she simultaneously pushed the device off of her lap and onto the bed, before she rolled herself over and off the bed, landing squarely on her feet before making to leave the room. She wasn't sure if she really should have encouraged such behavior or not by agreeing to her mother's timid request, what with her smiling at her back like she was, but she guessed if it made her happy, than at least this once, she'd agree to it, but only this once. The world was a stagnant place. Boring, and after what had happened three years ago almost, she wanted no real part in it any longer.

"Ohayo tou-san…"

"Waah! If it isn't my little Tuna-chan!"

"I'm hanging up now. That's not even a proper shortening of my name."

"Ah but-!"

Ah yes, now she remembered why she hated talking this man. He was an idiot of the highest degree.

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**Name:** Sawada Tsumiko

**Age:** 14

**Gender:** Female

**D.O.B: **October 14

**Blood Type: **A

**Height: **157 cm

**Weight: **45 kg

**School: **Namimori Middle

**Best Subject:n**N/A

**Worst Subject: **N/A

**After-School Activities: **N/A

**Notes: **The younger twin sister of Sawada Natsuyo.

"So this is your twin sister? Not a whole lot of information."

"And that surprises you how? This is the CEDEF we're talking about, specifically their leader. He's not the best source of information considering he's getting it all from our mom, and it' superficial at best."

"True. Guess we'll just have to wait and see."

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A/N. Ok, that ending probably sucked, a lot. But oh well. Note that the thing at the bottom is information gathered by Iemitsu, I purposely did it like that to emphasize how little he really knows about his children, particularly the one he is never around. Hope you guys enjoyed the prologue and thanks again for reading! Please review and see ya! A cookie to anybody who can guess who the other person speaking was.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N. Here's the official chapter 1 hope you guys enjoy the story. Now mind you I'm writing this at like 2 o' clock in the morning and therefore my typing seems to be a bit screwed up. So blame any errors on that, my apologies in advance of course. Thanks for reading!

**Disclaimer: I own nothing!**

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**Target 1: An Unexpected Reunion**

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"_Hello again. It's me, though my name is not important. I have another question for you. If the world were to go silent, what would you do?" _ The question was really odd, whoever the person who was writing these out and sending them to people was odd. Either that, or their mind must've been like that. She scoffed at it anyways, a hand reaching up to brush a stray lock of chocolate brown hair from out of her face so she could see what she was doing better. The world was a stagnant and loud place, obnoxious and stale all at the same time; it would never be silent or quiet in any form what so ever. Not as a whole at least, and even then not completely.

"What a stupid question…"

"Tsu-chan?" She continued to face the computer screen, fingers moving deftly across the keyboard and mouse pad without so much as a few seconds as she exited out of one site only to move on to a different one, gazing at the woman standing in the doorway of her bedroom for the second time that month out of the corner of her eye. Mind wandering for a few seconds, she tried to remember the last time the two of them had truly spoken with each other besides the occasional greeting or call for dinner that she would never respond to.

It was no surprise to her that she couldn't really recall any specific time, a true testament to long it had been.

And most likely it was all her own fault.

"Tsu-chan, Natsu-kun and his home tutor are here." She paused for a split second, reflexes kicking in at the very last second as her arm locked in place for a short time, keeping her from accidently clicking on something that she probably didn't want to before finally regaining movement in said limb once again. Natsu-kun? Natsu-kun was her mother's nickname for her older twin brother, a shortening of Natsuyo, the bright-eyed, brilliant and impossibly popular boy born almost fifteen minutes earlier than no-good, unimportant, and far-less dazzling twin sister. She hadn't seen him in nine years if she remembered correctly, and belatedly, she wondered how he had changed since then. They were both fourteen now, and if she could faintly recall that the reason he hadn't been present in her life for all those years was because he hadn't even been in the country at the time, their father having dragged him off on some half-baked whim to Italy where he had stayed and never even bothered to visit. Now, not only was he back, but he was bringing some strange man in a black Armani suit with him. She wasn't entirely sure how she felt about this situation, but something in her gut told her that she wasn't going to like it at all. "You do remember that Papa told you they were coming right?"

She had to make an almost physical effort to not scoff. That man had not told her anything about her twin brother and his home tutor coming to stay with them for however long they pleased, too busy trying to come off as the doting father with his stupid nicknames and ridiculous and childish behavior that had given her a headache for the next six hours after they had finished the honestly stupid phone call. Which mainly consisted of his aggravating nicknames that left her in a foul mood for days afterwards and her constant threatening to hang up on him only for him to stop her by making it sound like he actually had something important to say. The conversation had really not gotten anywhere of any importance at all.

As a result, she'd leave the interpretation of her true answer to those in the room. She didn't feel like getting into argument over what exactly her father had and had not told her.

"Oh Tsu-chan!"

"It's alright Kaa-san, no need to get angry. I'm sure Tsumi-chan was just busy is all and it slipped her mind." Natsuyo explained, saving his fourteen year old twin from any scolding she might've received from their far too passive mother. She didn't really need it, but she guessed that it was the thought that really counted, for however little it was truly worth.

"Oh Natsu-kun, just as polite and well-mannered as Mama remembers. Tsu-chan should thank Natsu-chan for being such a nice brother, but knowing Tsu-chan she probably won't. You'll have to forgive Tsu-chan yourself Natsu-kun, I'm afraid she's inherited some unpleasant personality traits since you were last here."

"Ah, it's fine Kaa-san. I'm sure all we need is a little time to get to know each other better, and everything will be fine. You'll see." He reassured, all pleasant smiles and a calm attitude that Tsumiko couldn't help but think of as fake despite how clearly genuine it was. _'Ah, so that's what she meant by unpleasant personality traits. I guess I didn't notice because I don't talk to real people much… At least not off of the internet.'_

"Oh alright then. Well, Mama will go and get dinner ready, Natsu-kun must be tired from the airplane ride all the way from Italy. Why don't you take this time to relax and get to know Tsu-chan better, maybe you can get Tsu-chan to finally stop playing on that computer of hers."

"Of course Kaa-san. Love you."

"Mama loves you too." And with that mushy little scene, the now horribly bubbly woman left, practically dancing as she exited the room, leaving everything for more awkward and quiet than it had been when she had first arrived with the two in tow.

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"Tsumi-chan?" She chose to ignore her brother, clearly hearing him but instead focusing more on the electronic device in her lap. She was hoping, in truth, that the two would get the picture and leave like she wanted them to. It wasn't that she didn't love her brother, but with the years they had spent apart and her sudden apathy towards the world around her, she'd lost touch with her ability to socialize properly with those around her, especially since eventually her mother had given up on trying to make her communicate with her at least. It resulted in a deterioration of any social skills she might've possessed beforehand, but in the end it all led to the same thing. She wanted nothing to do with the outside world, and she was fairly anything and everything that was a part of it, wanted absolutely nothing to do with her in return. "Tsumi-chan." Natsuyo's voice cut through her thoughts, still failing to draw her attention towards him, but sounding a whole lot sterner than it had before. "Tsumiko." Ah, now it was her actual name instead of the nickname he had given her.

"…"

_**CLACK**_

She found herself flinching as her brother's hand appeared out of nowhere, slamming the computer shut and resulting in her staring vacantly, eyes dull and unexpressive at the now closed laptop. Apparently her lack of response had enraged her dear twin, who now seemed very intent on causing her physical harm, in the form of a set of broken fingers.

"I was calling you Tsumi-chan, it would be nice if you didn't ignore me." The voice was cold, but not shockingly so, honestly she wasn't entirely sure if it was supposed to intimidate her or something of the like.

Obviously her socialization skills hadn't been the only thing to suffer.

"…" She still didn't respond, instead continuing to stare at her laptop as if contemplating how exactly she could remove it from under her twin's heavy grip, which she was. In the end she settled for simply moving her whole body around, turning away from him and taking the portable computer with her as she now turned to face the window instead of the wall where the TV stood, turning on the device again and going back to what she had been doing before her twin had so rudely closed it on her.

"I hope you don't treat Kaa-san like that."

"I don't talk to her." Both blinked at the sudden verbal response, eyebrows quirked inquisitively as she continued to type away at the computer.

"What?"

"I don't talk to Kaa-san." She said it matter-of-factly, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. It brought up thoughts of something else not completely related to the conversation. The world; she was horribly tired of the world. The world that lay outside her window continuously moving without ever slowing down or giving an inkling of doing such. The very stagnant, very repetitive world that she had removed herself from some time ago.

How long had it been since she had last talked with anybody having to do with the outside world, how long since she had had a real, honest to God conversation face-to-face with another person?

"Why not?"

"…" Her response was a shrug of the shoulders. Honestly she was telling the truth. She wasn't exactly sure of the reason why she and their mother hadn't talked in… how long had it been, half a year, 11 months? _'Two years…' _Her mind responded idly, the thought coming slow and instantaneously all at the same time. _'Almost two years since you've held a decent conversation with anybody in the real world, not one that was typed out and posted on some blog site on the internet for-Shut up.' _She mentally shot down that train of thought before it could go any further. She didn't feel like licking old wounds that probably weren't even all that serious and important.

But it had been true, in a way. She hadn't spoken with her mother in almost two years, their once near daily conversations having dwindled without warning and without her own notice to maybe once a month if she could remember correctly, to three times a year if the woman had been lucky, to nothing at all except for the occasional call to come downstairs and eat dinner that went largely ignored or the idle and very nervous morning greetings the woman would give her in hopes of a response that never came. Mostly because she was asleep at the time.

"Tsumiko, shrugging your shoulders is not a proper response." Apparently a kind-of truth wasn't good enough for her twin, who suddenly seemed to think that he was her father or something. He was certainly acting like it at least.

"And what about you Mister I-Never-Visit?"

"At least I call on occasion!"

"And be honest, how often is that? Really." She wasn't entirely sure why she had used that as a comeback to detour her brother from scolding her like a the parent he seemed to think he was, but still, she didn't need him patronizing her over something he couldn't understand. She had struck a nerve obviously though, her older, famously calm twin seeming to have an internal fight just to keep himself from blowing up at her, as he tried to reign in his temper.

Something seemed to click in her mind as she turned back to her laptop, only belatedly remembering that there was one other person in the room besides just herself and her brother. "…I'm done."

Natsuyo blinked in shock, his brain probably taking a while to fully register the fact that she had basically just dismissed him. Her admission was clear and concise, even if it didn't state what she really meant, and at the same time did at least partially. She was done with the conversation, done with dealing with the twin brother that hadn't been home for nearly nine years and when finally coming to visit after so long away, decided that the first thing he was going to do was try and boss her around. She wanted him gone now, out of her room, and probably didn't want to speak to him again for a good long while. He had tried to push her too much, and was now just discovering the surface of her limits when it came to others scolding her or trying to tell her how she was supposed to behave around others. He could, of course, try and push more. He could refuse to leave the room like she wanted him to, continue to push until he felt like he was finally breaking through. But that would probably just make the situation worse, and possibly even cause a fight between them. And after so long away from the only real family he had besides his friends he had left in Italy, he didn't want to get into a verbal and possibly even physical confrontation with his twin sister.

He would back down and submit to her wishes, at least this time around.

"Reborn, we should go, dinner will probably be ready soon anyways."

"Hmph, whatever Dame-Natsu."

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A/N. Ok so, Tsumiko's a brat who can't socialize with others even if her life depended on it and doesn't like being patronized by those around her, Natsuyo's a somewhat patronizing brat who is used to bossing people around and having to act as mature as possible and almost like a parent to those around him. This is what happens when I up till near 4 o'clock in the morning trying to type up a chapter for a story. Anyways, thanks again for reading and I hope you guys enjoyed the story. Quick question though, what do you guys think of their personalities. I'm trying to give them both room to change and improve as the story progresses. Leave a review and tell me what you think! See ya!


	3. Chapter 3

A/N. And here's chapter 2. If you guys are wondering when all the action and crap is going to start, I can't answer that because I'm not even completely sure. It seems that for this story at least the plot is going to be a little slow going at first, probably because I'm still trying to adjust typing out this Fem!Tsuna's personality, which is absolutely nothing like the nervous, clumsy wreck that was the original. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy the chapter and thanks for reading!

**Disclaimer: I own nothing!**

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**Target 2: Of Difficult Personalities**

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It was weird, having more than just her mother and herself in the house. There was an increase in noise, a lot of which was very questionable at best, and probably something she should ignore if she wanted to keep her head. But then again, back when it was just the two of them, it was really more like one person that lived in the house and another that just happened to be nearby and was easy to forget existed. Her brother's coming home after so long had changed that however, suddenly and without warning, there was more people, old childhood friends that had hung out with her twin when they were little now coming over to see him again and how exactly he had changed since last they had talked to each other. More noise and general nuisances that wound up distracting her from whatever she was doing when it occurred. The quiet and solitude she had been so used to, so comfortable with, had been torn apart by her brother and his home tutor's presence within the household, turning the quiet into loud, obnoxious noises that often startled her and the solitude into a feeling of uncomfortable loneliness. The latter of which was a feeling she had long since forgotten about after she had stopped going to school altogether.

The only upside to all of this seemed to really be the fact that at least he had left her alone after their little conversation, however one-sided it might've been when it happened. He was also attending school, the middle school she would've gone to if she had stayed, so for at least seven days out of a whole week, the house was quiet up until he came home at some point, usually around three o'clock in the afternoon, and then the chaos and loud noises would start up and continue until late in the night.

"Chaos." The greeting was unfamiliar, but it did its job in grabbing her attention as she gave the man currently standing in her doorway a sidelong glance while continuing to work on her computer, a set of headphones hanging around her neck with the quiet mumble of music thrumming from its speakers.

"…" She chose not to respond, instead turning her attention back onto her computer as the man walked in, steps gradual and graceful as he seemed to once again take in the appearance of her room, which was admittedly barren without a whole lot of personality put into it. It had once been filled with things that she liked, stuffed animals, books, and music CDs, all sorts of things that she guessed would be typical of a girl at her age, but then one day she had just found herself taking it all down and packing it up into a big cardboard box and she had never given it a second thought or looked back after she had stuffed said box, full to the brim with everything she didn't want to see any longer, as far back into the closet as it could go. She couldn't recall why exactly she had done so, but it all still remained in the back of her closet none the less.

"Still not talking?" The man asked, coal black eyes staring down at her from underneath the brim of his fedora. Her answer was silence punctuated by the constant sounds of tapping from the keyboard, but it seemed at least that he hadn't been expected a proper answer from her. It was obvious at least, that he understood her personality to some extent and knew not to expect much in the ways of proper communication. How much though, she couldn't be entirely sure of. "Hmph," the man chuckled, a hand coming up to adjust the hat on his head. "Why aren't you in school?" At this question he finally got a visible response at least. She looked up at him through chocolate brown bangs, honey brown eyes looking at him as if he had just asked the most ridiculous question in the world. Most would've shut up at that look, probably deciding it was better not to question her reasons rather than incite a possibly bad tempered fourteen year old into violence. He was not most people though. "I checked your records. It seems that you haven't went to school in almost three years now. You're fourteen, that means that you haven't been in school since you were eleven." He crossed his arms over his chest, suddenly not standing in front of the fourteen year old, but instead leaning on the desk she rarely if ever used. "Why?" He questioned again.

The conversation from there dissolved into a sort of stare down between the primly dressed man and the reclusive pre-teen who had since then refused to offer up any sort of verbal response since his and his student's arrival. It was almost like two very powerful wills battling it out for control. The only problem was, that despite not socializing with others, her will seemed to come across just as strongly as his, and just like he wouldn't give up on giving an answer, she wasn't going to give up on her refusal to talk with another human being for as long as she lived. He had dealt with her brother however, and his will was stronger than hers at times. He had made him bend under his will and do as he wanted so the boy could better himself and be more prepared for the dangers his future held. His twin sister would cave eventually, all it took was a little patience.

"Why do you care?" She asked, looking at him from behind the screen of her laptop. She seemed to have curled in on herself at some point during the conversation, suddenly looking a lot smaller than she originally had. Was she really that intimidated by his presence or was it something else entirely?

"I care because you are my student's sister, and as such it is my job to make sure you don't hold him back." He really could've put that more nicely, honestly he could have, but this child was being very difficult, outright defiant in fact. Not even his other student, Dino, had given him this much trouble when it came to being agreeable. "Whether you like it or not, his success depends on how well you yourself are doing. So I ask again, why aren't you in school?" It seemed at least that he had gotten through to her to some extent, though whether it was positive or negative, he could not know right away. Even for him, this child was difficult to read. Everything she did screamed about how cut off she was from actual society. Every twitch in her fingers showed just how much time she spent on that computer of hers, every wayward glance, just how unsure she was about everything. Her world had probably seemed so steady and sure without the two of them there, and then for both her twin brother, who hadn't been home in years, and himself to come waltzing in, it probably had turned everything upside down for her. And if it hadn't yet, than it would soon enough. Unfortunately for her at least, her brother's life was dangerous, and with him being here in Japan, staying with the remainder of his family, eventually they were going to get involved.

That was the one thing the twins' father had failed to account for. No matter how much he didn't want it to, eventually both his wife and their youngest twin would get caught up in all the dangers that their chosen lifestyles would entail, and there was nothing they could really do it about it. Fate had truly dealt them a bad hand.

"This is stupid…" It was that defeated response again, the one that came when she did not want to deal with whoever she was talking to. Honestly, he had only sat through a whole conversation with her once, and that had been when her brother was trying to talk to her, only for the whole thing to go south rather quickly. She had not wanted to acknowledge his existence in her room, she had wanted him to leave without so much as a word to her, but when he hadn't and had tried to press for answers as to why exactly she was behaving the way she was. It had been a sensitive topic for her he guessed, she refused to answer, refused to respond, refused to acknowledge both her brother and himself, and when Natsuyo had finally had enough and tried to gain her attention by taking away the thing that was keeping it, she eventually shut down on him. She refused to continue the conversation, retreating in a way that caused the other party to do so for her.

It was a dismissal, a lot less direct than the one she had given her brother a week before, but unfortunately for her, he wasn't as easy to detour as Natsuyo had been.

"I don't care if this is stupid to you. I asked a question, I want an answer. A verbal answer." He stated, pushing himself off of the desk he had been leaning on to walk up to the now very much reclusive pre-teen. She was starting to shut down on him, something he had only seen on rare occasions with children who when being scolded. Specifically children, who no matter how many times it had occurred, just didn't know how to handle getting yelled at by parents or adults, it was a messy cycle that went nowhere fast.

The child would do something wrong and as a result the parent or adult would get upset and start yelling at them, the parent or adult's voice would escalate in volume and cause said child to subsequently freeze up on them. The child would attempt to withdraw into themselves, and with the lack of response that came with such actions, the adult or parent only got more angry. Eventually the child would come back, but it was usually only at the point where things had basically dissolved into tears, yelling, lots of screaming, and all-around mutual anger. In the end, the only result was the child wound up holding a grudge towards the adult in question, and the adult was fed up with dealing with the child walking away to leave them to brood only to come back on occasion and make the situation worse. "You're trying to block everything out now, that won't make the problems go away."

"This is so stupid…" It was mumbled, her response barely audible, and even the tutor himself was having difficulty catching it, but it spoke volumes as to her current mental state. She really didn't want to continue this conversation, she probably even wanted, was hoping for him to disappear. This was a level of defiance he had yet to really deal with, but it wasn't like he couldn't handle it.

Dino had given him defiance in the form of quiet rage, doing what he wanted him to, but with a lot less finesse and whole lot of taking his sweet time to get it done. Her twin brother, had been a bit easier, still defiant but willing to at least try simply because he understood that he would need these lessons, what he was being taught, if he wanted to protect those close to him. The sister however, was a completely different type of defiance. The others had been agreeable to a certain extent, doing what he wanted them to, but in different ways, adding a challenge to it simply because they could and they would. The challenge she was offering him, was just simply trying to get her to respond to him. She was quiet defiance in the form of absolutely refusing to respond, and even when she did there always came a point where she just shut down and outright refused to continue talking. She'd curl in on herself and put up all sorts of walls and signals that screamed at the person before her to leave her alone, they weren't welcome in her now very clearly small, very much lonely world of just her and a computer that seemed to be her only tether to the outside world. The one place that she just didn't want to have to deal with any longer.

If she was going to be of any use to her brother in the long run, even as just someone to fall back on when times got tough, he'd need to break through these walls and limits she had set for herself and others. The first order of business being to get off of that computer at some point, but that would have to wait for another day. Natsuyo would be coming home soon, and he had to talk with their mother about when exactly this whole deterioration had occurred with her daughter, and what the cause might've been if in fact the woman knew. There was even a strong possibility he'd have to get some extra help from one of the others with this case. But he would try, and he would succeed, he always did after all. This was just another challenge in the long run, and another seemingly hopeless soul that needed a little bit of steering back onto the right path.

For today at least, he'd give her the space she was currently craving.

"You can't run away from them forever. They are going to catch up with you. Whether or not you like it, they are catching up to you." Those last words from her twin's strange home tutor shook her to the core, scared her more than he probably would've known.

"If the world stopped spinning, what would I do?" She found herself asking the question out loud, the one that had been forgotten the second her brother's tutor had waltzed into her room. Suddenly she grabbed her computer, opening it again as she typed away hurriedly.

* * *

"_What would you do if the world stood still?"_

"_I'd wish it would stay that way."_

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A/N. So what do you guys thinks? Hope you enjoyed the chapter, and thanks for reading! Please review and see ya!


	4. Chapter 4

A/N. Here's chapter 3, hopes you guys enjoy it and thanks for reading!

**Disclaimer: I own nothing!**

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"_Hello world, I'm back again. And with another question too, though I am still unimportant. What would you do if you suddenly lost everything you had?"_

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**Target 3: Conversations From the Other Side of the Door**

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The wall was a very cold, almost freezing support for the weight that she refused to hold up on her own as she sat against it, body leaning heavily on the hard surface as she found herself staring at her own two hands. Something she had been doing for the majority of the night, having gone yet another whole day without sleep. Rest was a pleasure in life that was gradually becoming rarer by the day for her, and if things continued the way they currently were, she'd probably be considered an insomniac by the end of the next month, if not sooner. _'Ah, but it's fine that way isn't it?' _She found herself asking idly, eyes slowly drifting from the probably too pale hands of hers to the window sitting almost half a foot above her head.

"The sun is bright today…" She noted idly, eyes squinting as she stared at the scenery laying outside her window from a rather awkward and uncomfortable position. "I won't come outside today. I won't go outside ever." She blinked as she realized exactly what she was doing, talking to the sun as if it actually understood what she was saying. Dear lord, was she losing her mind?

"THIS IS AWESOME TO THE EXTREME!" Her thoughts were interrupted by the sudden and very obnoxiously loud yell, the call sounding all too familiar for her own comfort, and she found herself almost overwhelmed by memories she did not wish to relive. It had been so long since that day, since she had last seen the boy that had encouraged her to call him her big brother, back when she still hung out with that person.

"Yare, yare Ryohei-san, you should calm down." Yet another familiar voice that she wasn't entirely comfortable with hearing, and more memories she wanted to stay buried as deep as she could possibly, safely keep them.

"Yes, please. I'm pretty sure Tsumi-chan is still sleeping, you shouldn't wake her up." Wake her up, how funny. Natsuyo seemed to have grown a sense of humor since she last saw him, one more thing to add to the growing list of changes her twin had gone through in their nine years apart.

"Tsumi-chan? Oh yeah!" It was the second voice again, why did Natsuyo have to bring them home with him? She understood the need to bond with ones friends, probably a lot less than what would be considered normal, but he could've gone over to one of their houses instead. "Your twin sister, Tsumiko, right? I haven't seen her in three years."

"Three years?"

"Aye! Yakyū-baka! You shouldn't be so disrespectful to Jyuudaime's sister!" A new voice, and just as rude and loud as the first, but not as obnoxious. At least one person she didn't recognize, one less existence that brought bad images with it, of a time she had long since let go of simply because she had quickly learned she could not keep it.

"Calm down, Hayato-kun, seriously, it's fine, we all used to play together when we were little." Natsuyo's voice seemed to have taken a note of nostalgia to it. He must have been remembering the times before he had left for Italy with their father, back when she used to faithfully follow him wherever he went, simply because of how brave and bold he seemed at the time, making the world seem so much smaller in comparison as he shown as brilliantly as the sun and held all the warmth of the sky. Back when he'd drag her all over the town, or at least as much as he could with along with both Ryohei and the other boy, Takeshi Yamamoto, and of course, _her_. But that was back when she still felt safe, long before things had changed as suddenly as they had, and the world had become a boring, unwelcoming place she no longer felt comfortable or safe in at all. "I still don't understand what happened though. I mean, I fully expected her to change, for her to be different from back when we were little, nine years is a long time to be away from somebody. I figured we'd have to spend time together, to get reacquainted with each other again. But I didn't expect for her to change so much. She doesn't even seem to want anything to do with me any longer, or anybody else for that matter." She only barely caught the faint, almost non-existent sound of her twin sighing, obviously exasperated with her behavior.

Like he was disappointed with how she had turned out.

"It can't be that bad, can it Jyuudaime?" There was that unfamiliar voice again, inquisitive, tentative, like he was afraid of bringing something bad up, or angering her brother in some way. He shouldn't worry, if one thing about Natsuyo hadn't changed at all, it was that ridiculous level of forgiveness he had, for others and for himself, to the point where sometimes she wondered just how stupid he really was upon looking back on the times when he and others had gotten into arguments, sometimes even coming down to blows. But that was only when she was willing, felt strong enough to face the memories and the emotions that came with them.

"Heh, I wish I could say yes, Hayato-kun. But seriously, it's like I'm dealing with a complete stranger, instead of my own twin sister. She used to follow me around everywhere, you know? Me, Onii-san, and Takeshi-kun, staring at the world like it was both the most terrifying place she had ever seen, but also the most beautiful."

"And now?" She could almost bet that her brother was probably frowning at the question as he answered.

"Now she stares at it like a dead person. Like she wants nothing to do with it, has nothing to do with it. The whole world is passing her by, and she just sits there most of the time, like she's in another world completely, on another planet."

"She's pretty far away from you now, isn't she?"

"She's pretty far away from everybody Hayato-kun, and for once in my life, I'm not sure if I can bring her back." There was a pause, in the conversation now, though she was honestly pretty close to just not listening at all. "Maybe it's too late now…"

"Ah, don't give up Jyuudaime! If anybody can bring your sister back, it's you! After all, you saved me right? You saved Yakyū-baka too. It'll just take time is all."

"I agree, Natsu-kun shouldn't give up on his sister. She needs you, she's probably needed you for a long time now. You just showed up a little late."

"TO THE EXTREME SAWADA-SAN! FAMILY IS IMPORTANT! IT IS THE OLDER SIBLINGS JOB TO TAKE CARE OF THE SIBLING!"

"Gaah! BAKA! Didn't Jyuudaime just tell you that his sister was sleeping?!"

"Matte, matte. It's fine everybody, just calm down."

"Of course Jyuudaime."

"Oh yeah, and guys?"

"Yes?"

"Thanks."

Her brother sure had a sense of humor alright. Talking in front of her door like that, he probably knew she was very much awake. How cruel. Saving? She didn't need saving, not from anyone, and certainly not from herself and her own decisions. She was the one who had chosen to stop going to school, she herself, by her own will chose to stop hanging out with both Takeshi and Ryohei. She did NOT, under any circumstances, need saving.

So why was she crying so much?

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"_Hello world, I'm back again. And with another question too, though I am still unimportant. What would you do if you suddenly lost everything you had?"_

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"_Can I ask a question back? What would you do if you already had?"_

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A/N. So what do you guys think? And quick question, do you guys like the questions I keep putting at the beginning of the chapter, or do you want me to stop? Anyways, leave a review or PM, and tell me your opinion! Thanks again for reading the chapter, see ya!


	5. Chapter 5

A/N. Ok, so those who reviewed before this got posted has spoken, the questions are here to stay! Anyways, hope you guys enjoy the chapter and thanks for reading!

**Disclaimer: I own nothing!**

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"_Hello World, I've returned and with another question to boot! This time around, the question is what would you do, if for just one day, nobody lied to you and everybody told you the absolute truth, no matter what it was?"_

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**Target 4: Attempts to Find the Truth**

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Natsuyo understood the importance of information as much as he understood the importance of breathing. His time spent in Italy under the near constant tutelage of the sadist known as Reborn had made sure of that. Knowledge, no matter how exactly it had been obtained, was precious, an absolute must if one wanted to survive in the world he had been forced to grow up in since he had been a meager five years old. And true, friends and family were just as important, family was especially precious, sacred in fact. But information was worth even more, for it kept that family and those precious, precious friends safe. And though not all information could be trusted readily or right away, often times it was that very same, questionable information that could wind up saving everyone you loved and cared about if you could just place enough trust, just the right amount of faith in it.

So he would admit, though never out loud; that was just begging for Reborn to pop up from out of nowhere and beat him to within an inch of his life, that it was almost impossibly frustrating that he could not find a single ounce of information as to why he had not seen his sister attending school. He hadn't ever bothered to check her room, going off of mere assumption (another Reborn would kill him for, never make assumptions, it leads to stupidity and death.) that she would've left earlier than him just so she wouldn't have to deal with him, seeing as she apparently wanted nothing to do with anyone living in or outside the house as it seemed. But it seemed very likely that she might not ever have been going to school at all. Reborn had probably already figured it out and tried to confront her about it, and if that failed than he probably found another source of information and got the truth from that. He wouldn't tell his student though, even if he asked as politely as humanly possible, wanting Natsuyo to figure it all out on his own like he believed he should.

The students were no help either.

They either didn't remember his sister, having not seen Tsumiko in three years and having forgotten that she had even existed in the time she had cut herself off from the outside world, or they clammed up. Bodies going frigid and stiffening as if they feared that something or someone was watching them and that if they gave him the information he wanted, they would be punished severely for it. They would give nervous glances around the hallways, or in whatever room he had caught them in, searching for something that was not there and would not show up.

In the end, he had been forced to write off the entire student body of Namimori Middle School as useless, and had to resort to different tactics. He would have to ask his old friends, Sasagawa Ryohei and Yamamoto Takeshi, two people he had just begun to rekindle the fires of friendship with. He had sworn he would do nothing to lose them like he almost had nine years ago, when his father had dragged off to a foreign country on some half-baked whim, forcing him to leave behind both his twin sister, his mother, and all of his friends. Everything he knew and understood and felt safe with had been ripped from his tiny, helpless hands, and he hadn't even been asked about he had felt about it.

True, Italy hadn't been that bad. He had made friends, so close that they could practically substitute for the two closest people his father had ripped him away from, but it did nothing to quell the hatred that he had left to fester deep within his heart. In a dark place he didn't bother to even think of simply because he wasn't allowed to, Reborn's psychopathic antics and his generally chaotic life style always keeping him facing forward, constantly moving ahead without a chance to pause and just look back, for even a few seconds. He had people now, friends, not just the three he had hung out with back in Japan, and his mother and twin sister, to worry about now. More people that had become so scarily close in such a short time, and he was forced to move faster, get better, become stronger as quickly as possible so that he could protect them. So that he could keep them as safe as possible in the dangerous world they were all involved in.

But still, he had been so happy when he had finally been given the chance to return to Namimori, his home town, when it had been quickly discovered that he would no longer be able to find all of what he needed there in the chaotic streets of probably the most beautiful country he had even known. And his friends back in Italy had understood that, promising to come over eventually to see what the place he had born in looked like, and what the friends he had been forced to leave behind were like, what the twin sister he had talked so animatedly about, to the point where his friends had laughed at him at times, looked like and if she was really as "awesome" as he had made her sound like. Swore to him that in the mean time they would do their damnedest to stay safe and alive until they could return to his side, and help him complete what he had been destined for, as Reborn had so eloquently put it as he had pointed a weapon at his forehead the first time he had ever said 'no' to an order. That had also been the last.

Now that he had them both again, though one short for one reason or another, he didn't feel like losing them again, whether by his own fault or someone else's.

But he had no real choice.

Information about his sister's sudden lack of an appearance in school and her strange, distant behavior had forced him to do something he really didn't like doing; questioning them about something that might possibly be very sensitive for them. After all, his sister wasn't the only one who had changed drastically in the nine years of his absence. Takeshi's sweet, lovable mother had died almost a month after he had left, and that had left the boy scarred and scared and giving out false smiles in order to hide the pain and protect his wounded heart from suffering any further at the hands of cruel children who didn't know when to keep their mouths shut and their noses out. And Ryohei, well he was just as excited as he had always been, yelling out his signature catchphrase of "EXTREME" as loudly as he possibly could, but there was something slightly fake about the wide grins he put on for them sometimes. A sad, morbid look in his eyes that signified a great, devastating loss that he hadn't quite gotten over with; a guilt that his dear, usually cheerful and over exuberant friend could not shake even if it would save his life. And with the lack of a person whose presence he had become so used to in their short years spent playing together before he had left, he was almost certain as to what exactly it was he had lost. But dear lord almighty, did he never want to actually recognize what it was.

He could not fathom that such a fate could've befallen that person of all people in the world.

It was too gruesome, too dark, too _sad._

And then on top of that, when Takeshi had nearly thrown himself off of the school roof just days prior and nearly giving him a scare when he was still trying to get accustomed to the simple fact that his once adoring sister seemed to hate his guts now. He was more than a little hesitant, in fact he was downright terrified of having to ask them about anything concerning his horridly distant twin. But them being the only ones she had hung out, having been so shy and scared of the whole world when she was little, they were the only people he could turn to for answers.

Courage and the bravery to ask finally came when the first friend he had made in Italy had finally come to the sometimes random and even more chaotic (He never remembered it being so when he was little, but maybe he had just missed it at the time, too caught up his own made-up adventures as he dragged both twin sister and three friends across the entirety of the town simply because he could and they would let him.) town.

Hayato Gokudera, probably the second loudest person he knew, but possibly one of the most loyal people he had ever had the pleasure of meeting. True, he was rough, and violent to all sorts of degrees, and he had a temper worse than a pit-bull, but he was a true friend, one he could depend on, and as soon as he learned to get along with the others, to finally place his so hesitantly given out trust in others besides just Natsuyo himself, he was the best friend anyone could ever have.

Hayato had been the one who had first given him the courage to ask, only punctuated when Reborn had somehow overheard their conversation and proceeded to try and shoot him. His own special way of saying; "Get your ass in gear and get it done already! You are not getting anywhere just laying around worrying all the time." It had worked. And finally he had decided to ask them over, figuring that it would best be done in the seclusion of his own bedroom.

He hadn't realized that Tsumiko, his twin sister, had been awake until he stood just outside her door. Her once strong, if slightly timid presence having dwindled in the years to practically nothing. A sudden weakening he had never seen before, unless one was close to, if not already dying. The difference was, his younger twin was very much alive, very much breathing, but unlike everybody else, she wasn't living. Her will to live, to truly live in this world, had practically vanished. And that probably scared him more than Takeshi had almost committed suicide. Because it meant something for more prolonged, far more dangerous.

It meant that his sister had given up on living, and while Takeshi had almost committed suicide, though easily convinced off of the edge of the roof with only a little fight, she was a drawn out process. One that could just suddenly and without warning, and no one would ever know that she was gone until it was far too late, the corpse probably rotting already, simply because she had never left her room. As according to their sweet mother, after he had bothered to ask her about his twin's lack of attendance at school, she hadn't left her room in three years.

But by all rights, he had thought she was asleep, so when he taken notice of her weakened presence, well, they were already so deep into the conversation that everybody had just frozen in front of her door, talking until finally it ended and they moved on. It was small, barely noticeable really, but he was sure that his sister was livid with him, however dulled the reaction would be. Her presence, for even just a second, had spiked considerably before dying again just as suddenly. And that more than any words his friends had spoken, gave him hope that maybe he could save her, from herself and from whatever the world had thrown at her to cause all of this.

That confidence was shattered rather quickly though, as he felt himself suddenly crumble to the ground, his whole world shaken in seconds as in a rare show of weakness, something he had made sure to never show to anyone, no matter how bad things got, and he was reduced to the blubbering sobs and hysterical crying he had been prone to back when he had first arrived in Italy.

It had almost scared them all, and with how Ryohei had been acting in particular, fretting over him, trying to calm him down, he was fairly sure that now he understood why Ryohei had held that guilty look in his eyes. Why he had been so quiet during their conversation in front of her bedroom door. He had blamed himself for Tsumiko's self-inflicted seclusion from the world. Everything he was doing now, to try and keep him afloat and from drowning in his own grief, Ryohei had probably wished to high heavens, to whatever deity that would listen, that he had the chance to say the same to his twin. His twin who kept herself locked up in her room without any intention of ever coming out.

It just gave him another reason to work harder on getting his sister to finally come out of her room, and to face the world she was currently trying her damnedest to run away from. Not just for her, but for Ryohei as well, and Takeshi too, Takeshi that needed to know that at least one other person besides himself and Ryohei, was doing okay after everything that had happened.

It still didn't lighten the blow that came with finding out that someone he had cared about, like family, was gone. And they wouldn't be coming back. Their once small group of the Sawada Twins, and Ryohei, Takeshi, and _her _had been suddenly and without warning, shortened to just himself, Ryohei, and Takeshi. But it would grow, he was sure, he'd make it grow. He would not let them fall apart like they had when he wasn't there to keep them all together during the difficult times, and he'd show them a family, a new family that wouldn't disappear so easily because he would make sure they were safe, and that if he couldn't keep them safe, than at least they were strong enough to do it themselves.

He just had to.

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A/N. Ok, that was kinda difficult to end, but I had to eventually. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter and thanks again for reading. Another question though, do you think I should bring in the Shimon Family before the Varia Arc, in between the Varia Arc and the Future Arc, or when they appear in canon? Anyways, please review and see ya!


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